The Marilyn Monroe Movie And The Oscars: An Interesting Fact

October 13, 2011

Michelle Williams will probably get Oscar-nominated for her performance as the needy, insecure, tortured, yet magical Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn, and that’s fine.

But Marilyn Monroe herself was never nominated!

Not for Some Like It Hot!

Or Bus Stop!

Or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!

Or The Prince and the Showgirl, which My Week With Marilyn is all about the making of!

So I guess you can get a nomination for re-creating the production of that film, but not for having actually been in it.

The insanity at the time was that Marilyn was just a giddy sexpot, not an actress — a point of view she herself took to heart when she hung on to “the method” and depended on Paula Strasberg to trail her with gushing and motivations.

But that was a tragically misguided approach because in reality, Marilyn already had the gift!

She had a natural magnetic appeal, deft comic timing, and heartbreaking pathos, and she knew exactly what to do whenever a camera loomed.